Shadows of the Past (A Time Travel Romance) Read online

  Stepping into the Mountaintop Bar and Grill, she nodded at the owner, Genevieve Eleanor Whitaker, who went by Ellie. She stood behind the bar wiping down the wooden surface, her brunette hair in the usual ponytail, her milky skin glowing under the lights. The place was pretty empty since everyone was gathered outside.

  Ellie gave her a wave. “Hey, Bella. Are you open tonight?”

  She nodded. “I was. What about you? Have you been busy?”

  “A bit. What can I get for you?”

  Bella leaned over the bar so that the few other patrons wouldn’t hear her. “Vodka and tonic. Can I get it in a to-go cup? I’m going back to the store in a little bit to clean up.”

  Ellie smiled. “You got it.”

  It was illegal to have alcohol outside of a drinking establishment, but she felt certain there had to be a few hidden flasks among the crowd out there. She just wanted to enjoy her drink without any hassle.

  They chatted a few more minutes. Bella threw a few bills on the bar and then headed back to the bakery.

  Standing in the doorway of her store, she took in all the families, heard the chatter and laughter, and center of her chest ached.

  At age thirty, she knew she missed something in her life, but couldn’t figure out what exactly it could be. If you’d asked her ten years ago to imagine her life at this time, she’d have said without hesitation that she’d be married with a couple of kids. She sighed at how wrong she’d been.

  Her parents lived down the mountain in Roanoke, and she saw them a couple of times a month. Bella’s Bake Shop did well, and many people relied on her to help them make their holidays and special occasions extraordinary; which meant she didn’t get a lot of time to go out. Most of her friends were married with kids, so she didn’t see much of them. She dated every now and then, but found that most men didn’t interest her much.

  Despite being busy, the feeling of emptiness only intensified with each day. If her life was missing something—or someone—it seemed to her she’d have to be aware of them. You couldn’t long for anything you didn’t know about. If you’d never known it before, how could it be missed?

  Yet, she woke each morning feeling as though a part of her had disappeared. She didn’t understand it. She’d fallen into a huge rut, one she couldn’t climb out of. In a nutshell, her life bored her to tears, and she had no idea what to do about it.

  As some of the kids ran around playing tag, she smiled. She would like to have children at some point, but in order to do that the old-fashioned way, she’d have to find a man. She didn’t subscribe to the notion that a woman “needed” a man to feel whole or complete, though. Perhaps she should consider adoption instead.

  What could be her unnamable need? Could it be all she required was a trip to a therapist and some anti-depressants? Was it that simple?

  The sounds of “oohs” and “ahs” returned her to the present, and she noticed that many people were looking upward. She followed everyone’s gaze, the crowd’s excitement almost causing friction in the air. The night had come alive with what she assumed to be a meteor shower. Bright, multi-colored lights zipped across the sky, as if it rained stars. It looked like they would land right on top of them, but it seemed like they somehow avoided the town square.

  A moment later, an ear-piercing scream sounded from the front of the square, near the statue of the town’s founder, Peter Saint. She moved out of the doorway to try seeing what had happened, but couldn’t see past the throngs of people. Someone else yelled, and suddenly, all-out chaos ensued. A father picked up his son, grabbed his wife’s hand, and began running away from the square, his face a mask of terror. Another woman ran past Bella, carrying her two children, as tears streamed down her face. Confusion tore through her as people scattered in all directions, and she looked again to see what had caused the mayhem, but then someone jostled her back into the doorway of her store.

  People began to act panicked, but also strange. A pale man took down a running woman, then brought his mouth to her neck. At first, the woman screamed and thrashed, but a moment later, she lay limply in his arms. The man glanced up, not seeing Bella in the shadows. Blood dripped from his fangs and down his chin. He stood and seemed to disappear right before her eyes.

  Okay, that apparently hadn’t been a man, but a … a vampire?

  Another woman ran up to her store, her long, black hair in disarray around her thin face. Bella dropped her cup as she stared into the woman’s glowing, yellow eyes, fear coursing through her.

  “Get inside,” she hissed. “Keep the lights off.”

  Out of sheer terror, Bella did as instructed, unlocking the door with shaky hands. Once secured inside, she sat in the darkness, gazing out the window. The woman began to tremble and dropped to all fours. A second later, a large, black wolf stood in her place. Bella backed away from the door as a grey wolf ran at the black one. They tussled on the pavement for a moment, fangs flashing and deep growls emanating from both. Then, the black wolf took off with her attacker right behind her.

  Bella’s heart pounded in her chest and tears stung her eyes as she moved away from the door. Crouching down behind the counter, she watched the mêlée outside. Could she be in the middle of a nightmare? Had she lost her mind? Forget depression medicine. Right now, it seemed she needed to check into a psychiatric ward. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Vampires? Werewolves?

  A man ran toward her store, a look of terror painting his face. He stood about six-foot, rail thin, with thick black hair and a matching beard. His icy blue gaze grew wide as he looked around at the chaos surrounding him.

  “Help me!” he screamed, pounding on her door.

  She stood and studied him, fairly certain she hadn’t seen him around town before, yet, a sense of familiarity overcame her.

  “Please! Let me in! I’m going to die out here!”

  Her gut told her not to trust him, but she couldn’t turn her back on her fellow man, could she? Not with the chaos that had erupted so suddenly—not after what she’d just witnessed. The body of the woman who’d been attacked by the vampire lay on the street just mere feet away. The woman who had turned into a wolf had left her clothing strewn across her doorstep. This man begged for her to help him, to allow him into safety. She couldn’t say no. Whatever had happened to cause this mayhem, the danger was very real.

  Rounding the counter, she got halfway to the door and stopped. A man dressed in leather pants and vest descended from the sky, holding a long, silver sword and a matching knife. The black wings at his back spanned at least twelve feet from tip to tip. His dark hair tousled in the breeze. He hovered about ten feet behind the guy pounding on her door, his face a mask of dark rage.

  She rubbed her eyes, hoping to clear what she saw. What was he? Some type of angel? Good angels wore white, right? Since he was dressed in black, did that make him … bad?

  Rushing to the door, she opened it and let the man in.

  “Oh, thank you. It’s just terrifying out there.”

  Just as she tried to close the pane, the angel placed his foot in the doorway and shoved her backwards, trapping her between the glass door and the window.

  “Don’t move, Arabella,” he snarled as his wings simply disappeared.

  She stared at the space on his back where they’d been, then closed her eyes for a brief second, unable to believe what she’d just seen. It registered somewhere in the back of her mind that he knew her name, but she couldn’t find the words to ask him how.

  The man she’d tried to help suddenly morphed into what she could only describe as a demon. His hands changed into claws while his skin took on a red glow, and his eyes became two black orbs. Fangs protruded from his upper lip, and a forked tongue jutted from his mouth as he hissed at her savior.

  Paralyzing fear tore through her, and she screamed as she pulled the door closer to her. She longed to shut her eyes, but found herself mesmerized.

  The angel raised his sword. “This time, you will not succeed, Ulric.�
�

  The creature laughed, a deep, guttural sound that sent tremors of terror through her. “You failed once, Jayden, and you’ll fail again—you won’t be able to protect her. You’re a pathetic excuse for a knight.”

  The angel, apparently named Jayden, lunged at the demon, his sword barely missing its head. Ulric dodged the blow, causing Jayden to go crashing into one of her display cases, then to the floor. The glass shattered and cupcakes flew around the store. Ulric pounced on him, and they traded blows. Jayden gained the upper hand and slammed the demon into the other display case, and it, too, met its demise. Ulric tried to get to his feet, but the smashed cakes made it difficult for him to keep his footing. Jayden grabbed a chair and raised it over his head. Just as he brought it down, the demon rolled away, sprang to his feet, and ran out the front door.

  Bella stared after him, her whole body violently trembling, and the sound of splintering wood still echoing in her head from the crushed chair.

  After a moment, she turned to Jayden. He looked at her, his chest heaving in labored breaths. Their gazes locked, and a feeling of recognition came over her. As she studied his dark eyes, high cheekbones, and square jaw, she tried to place from where she knew him. It was a ridiculous thought, because she didn’t hang out with angels. In fact, she kept waiting to wake up safe in her own bed, relieved this evening had only been a horrible nightmare.

  He stepped toward her as a trickle of fear clawed down her spine, and she held on tightly to the door, the only barrier between them.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Arabella,” Jayden reassured her.

  She swallowed as tears clogged her throat. “My name’s Bella.”

  Why she felt it important to correct him on her name, she didn’t understand. She had just witnessed an epic battle between an angel and a demon. What he called her seemed irrelevant.

  Then, she remembered her thought from earlier—how had he known her name?

  She tried to speak, but the words remained caught within her throat.

  Confusion crossed his face just for a second, but then disappeared as a gentle smile took its place. “Very well. I’m not here to harm you, Bella.”

  She glanced around her ruined store. If he’d wanted to hurt her, he already would have. Instead, he’d protected her from that ugly, awful, terrifying … thing.

  “We should shut the door,” he said softly. “The Evil is still out there. We don’t want to invite it in.”

  It seemed like a rational thing to do, but she couldn’t seem to let go of the pane. Her knuckles were white from holding on to the metal bar so tightly.

  He came closer and placed his hand on the edge of the door. “Let me close this.”

  As he pulled, it slipped from her grasp. He turned the key in the lock, then glanced over at her. “I’m sorry about your bakery.”

  She really couldn’t believe the mess. Smashed pastries and cakes littered the floor, topped with sprinklings of broken glass and splinters of wood. A little tidying up had turned into an epic clean up—almost a complete remodeling. At least the walls still stood.

  He held his hand out to her. “Right now, this is the least of our worries.”

  She gazed up at him, and then back at his hand. Chaos continued outside, and the cries of people and strange creatures met her ears.

  Should she trust him?

  As she glanced out into the mêlée, she stared at the woman who had been attacked by what she could only describe as a vampire. She had no idea what she should do. She didn’t know how to handle mythical creatures. Did you put a stake through a vampire’s heart? Or was it silver bullets? Did they even have hearts? There was also something about garlic … and how did one fight off what she could only call a demon? She couldn’t recall even one legend on how to stop a rabid werewolf … no, she was so far out of her league on how to survive something like this. The only thing she could think to do was crouch in the back bathroom and wait for morning.

  Staring up at the angel again, she needed to put her faith in someone because at this point, she felt completely scared, alone, and lost.

  He gazed at her intently. “Let me get you to safety.”

  Finally, it seemed her tongue worked. “How do you know my name? Who and what was that … thing? What did he mean that when he said that you couldn’t protect me?”

  “There’s time for all that later Bella, and I promise to tell you everything. For now, we need to get out of here. We must get away from this area.”

  He still held his hand out to her, and she met his gaze again. The feeling she knew him overcame her once more, and a little voice inside her whispered that she should trust him.

  Placing her palm in his, she nodded.

  “Is there a back door here?”

  “Yes.” She pointed toward the hallway behind the decimated display case.

  “Let’s go. Hopefully, the chaos hasn’t moved outside the main town square, and we’ll be able to leave without too much trouble. Is your home near here?”

  “It’s about a mile away.”

  “Okay. Please, stay close to me and do as I say.”

  Taking a deep breath, she followed him through the disarray that used to be her quiet, boring, unassuming life. How odd to think that just moments ago, she’d been wondering what she should do to put some excitement into it.

  Never in a million years would she have chosen this.

  3

  His hope that the chaos hadn’t reached beyond the square was dashed when he opened the back door. The dim lights in the alleyway revealed a woman lying in the alley in a pool of blood with half her throat missing, a small blue box with a gold sticker on ground next to her. He heard Bella gasp, and a small cry escaped her lips. How he longed to comfort her and shield her from this horror, but first, he needed to get her to relative safety.

  They ran along the side of the building, staying in the shadows. The screams of terror had died down a bit. Angel warriors in flowing white gowns flew above them, carrying holy swords and knives—long, shiny steel blades with jeweled handles. Their thick, white wings caused heavy downdrafts.

  As they continued down the back alley, they also came across a friendly werewolf, and a couple of translucent ghosts walking about, calling out for others. Bella’s grip on his hand tightened, her fear almost palpable.

  The farther they moved from the main town square, the more relaxed he became. He knew Ulric would seek out Bella, but with him being a demon, Jayden also knew he couldn’t resist taking part in chaos.

  “What’s happened here?” Bella whispered from his side, her hand still encased in his, her skin even smoother and softer than he’d remembered. His whole body and soul ached at how good it felt to touch her again after all this time. “And who are you?”

  He smiled. The happenings of tonight would be a long story, and as far as who he was to her, he would tell her the truth, hoping that something from her previous life rang true for her.

  “My name’s Jayden. I’m an Angel of Death from Heaven.”

  She gasped and tried to pull her hand away, but he held fast.

  “I’m not here to deliver your soul to Heaven, Bella. I’m here to help you. I was sent to fight in this war, and to protect you from that demon in your shop, Ulric.”

  “W-what does a demon want with me?”

  “He wants to kill you.”

  “Why?”

  He stopped, gazing around to make sure they were still alone. He didn’t sense any other paranormal beings in the vicinity, either, but that could change at any time.

  Grabbing her other hand, he turned to her. “Because he’s done it before.”

  Confusion crossed her face. “What?”

  “Please. Let me get you inside. We’re not safe out here.”

  They continued their walk in silence, and he unsheathed his sword, keeping it at his side.

  The neighborhood consisted of small red-brick houses, each with a nice patch of grass out front. Most had many flowering shrubs, large oak tr
ees, and rose bushes. The fall weather had caused the leaves to turn, and Mother Nature had decorated the neighborhood in bright gold, deep reds, and rustic browns.

  The empty streets glowed softly from the streetlights above. Some of the houses had been decorated for Halloween with ghosts, skeletons, and jack-o-lanterns hanging from porches. One house had made a graveyard out of their small patch of grass, while another had a large, blown-up pumpkin. Fake witches and ghosts had been hung from the trees, and he wondered what the townspeople thought of all of these scary creatures actually existing and materializing to now roam their streets. Jayden imagined Halloween would never be the same again until the generations had passed on, and this Event became nothing more than a legend, like the one before.

  Saint’s Grove, nestled up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, seemed to be a sort of utopian place to live. How things had changed within such a short period of time.

  After a few moments, Bella stopped. “This is it.”

  He glanced up at the house to make sure Ulric, or any other supernatural entity, didn’t hide on the roof or in the shadows of the small porch. When he felt certain the house still remained safe, he led her up the concrete path sandwiched between two small patches of faded-green grass. In the midst of fall, the color was slowly turning to brown.

  Bella moved a geranium pot by the door and grabbed a key from beneath it, quickly unlocking the door. It didn’t seem very safe to him to hide the key in such an obvious place, but he bit his lip to keep the words from spilling off his tongue. He remembered well that she didn’t like being told what to do.

  She opened the door and moved inside, and Jayden followed her into the darkness. After she turned on the lights, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The small living room had a white Victorian couch with a blue blanket thrown over the back. Magazines lay neatly stacked on the coffee table, and a small television set sat in the corner. A few pictures of her, with people he assumed to be her parents and friends, adorned the fireplace mantle.

  As he moved through the living room, his boots echoed on the hardwood flooring. He passed into the dining area into the small, tidy kitchen. Overall, the house seemed quite homey, and he smirked thinking of the cold, drafty castle she’d inhabited in her previous life.